Car, Motor Vehicle, & Motorcycle Accidents
Settlement on behalf of family of 66-year-old professional who suffered fatal injuries when she was struck by a commercial motor vehicle while retrieving empty trash bins at the end of her driveway. SUGARMAN attorneys were able to quickly investigate the cause of the accident, obtaining a statement from a neighbor and information from the police, and were able to resolve the case on behalf of the decedent’s widow without filing a lawsuit.
Arbitration award in excess of the defendant driver’s insurance limits obtained for 44-year-old delivery driver. The plaintiff was rear-ended when he stopped to make a left turn across oncoming traffic on the Mid-Cape Highway in Eastham. Following the collision, the plaintiff slowly developed progressively worsening back pain, treated with conservative measures, including physical and occupational therapy. The defendant made a low offer, disputing the causation and severity of the plaintiff’s injuries before the case was arbitrated and SUGARMAN’s lawyers prevailed.
Settlement on behalf of young husband and father who was struck from behind by a fuel truck during the morning commute towards Boston. The impact of the accident was severe and the plaintiff was diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage and two compression fractures in his lumbar spine. Although he did not undergo surgery, the plaintiff was rendered totally disabled from his physical job and still suffers from his injuries. After pre-trial motions were decided, SUGARMAN attorneys were able to resolve the case just days before trial.
In an arbitration of a car accident claim, SUGARMAN’s attorneys obtained a substantial award on behalf of a client who suffered facial scarring after he was hit from behind while stopped in his car at a red light in Brockton, MA. SUGARMAN initially recovered the full amount of the insurance policy from the driver that struck the client before making a claim against the client’s own motor vehicle insurer through the policy’s underinsured motorist coverage. After rejecting the insurer’s settlement proposal, SUGARMAN’s lawyers obtained an arbitration award over 12 times more than the insurer’s offer.
Settlement for 65-year-old nurse who was struck from behind in her car when a motorist lost control of her car on a public way in Peabody, MA. The nurse suffered from intractable headaches due to post-concussion syndrome and was unable to work for a period of over one year.
Pre-suit resolution of claim of 50 year-old woman against a national transport company and its insurer. The woman sustained permanent injuries when a shipping container fell off a tractor trailer and into her lane of travel on a road in Littleton, MA. She was unable to avoid the accident and her car collided with the container.
Settlement for family of 55-year-old woman who was tragically killed in a motor vehicle accident on I-95 in Essex County. The defendant driver lost control of his car, crossed over a median strip and struck the woman head-on.
Pre-trial personal injury settlement for young father who suffered permanent back injuries after a driver crossed a double yellow line into oncoming traffic near the Salem-Marblehead border. At the scene, the defendant driver admitted to the police that she became distracted while reaching for her phone, but claimed at her deposition that she never made that admission and that the plaintiff had actually crossed the double yellow line into her lane of travel. SUGARMAN’s lawyers were able to disprove these claims, in part through photographs taken at the scene, and the case resolved just before trial against the driver and her insurance company.
In the largest reported plaintiff’s personal injury settlement or verdict of 2022, SUGARMAN Principals Ben Zimmermann and David McCormack obtained a recovery on the eve of trial for a 26-year-old whose vehicle was struck by a tractor-trailer that hit and tipped over a temporary barrier dividing lanes of traffic in a construction zone on a highway in Central Massachusetts. Through years of litigation in federal court, SUGARMAN was able to demonstrate that the general contractor and engineering firm for the project selected a light-weight steel barrier that did not meet the project’s specifications and that the manufacturer of the barrier withheld testing and misrepresented the barrier’s characteristics. Compounding these errors, the general contractor failed to install the barriers properly and the engineering firm failed to provide instructions regarding how much room was needed on either side of the barrier to prevent intrusion into opposing lanes of travel. SUGARMAN’s experts demonstrated that the tractor-trailer was traveling at a low rate of speed with a small angle of impact such that a properly installed steel barrier (with several feet of room on either side) or an unpinned concrete barrier would have contained and re-directed the tractor-trailer and prevented it from entering the opposing lane of travel and striking the plaintiff’s car. The plaintiff was a healthy 23-year-old college student at the time of the collision. He suffered multiple fractures and injuries to his internal organs, ultimately rendering him paraplegic with an above-the-knee amputation of the left leg.
SUGARMAN’s attorneys were able to obtain a pre-trial settlement for a 50-year-old public employee who was rendered totally disabled from work following a severe car accident. A commercial vehicle “t-boned” the employee causing him to sustain permanent back injuries requiring multiple surgeries. He was unable to return to work following the accident and surgeries.
Recovery for client prior to the filing of personal injury lawsuit following a motor vehicle accident in Wellesley, Massachusetts. The plaintiff was rear-ended while stopped at a red light and sustained a detachment of his bicep tendon and other injuries. The recovery was against multiple insurance companies who provided coverage.
Settlement in a negligence and product liability case against a transportation company and bus manufacturer following the deaths of four middle school students on a school trip in Canada. Through the use of accident reconstructions, SUGARMAN attorneys established that bus driver error was the cause of the deadly crash, and not a roadway design defect as the defendants maintained. SUGARMAN lawyers also prosecuted product liability claims against the foreign bus manufacturer, relying upon biomechanical engineering evidence to show that an improper window design resulted in passengers being ejected from the bus during the crash sequence.
Many car accident victims and their lawyers make the mistake of treating car accident cases as routine. The manner in which SUGARMAN’s personal injury lawyers approach motor vehicle accidents is anything but routine. The lawyers at SUGARMAN bring the same high-quality legal representation to persons injured in car accidents as we bring to the other types of injury cases that we handle. Indeed, we believe our decades of experience with all manner of personal injury cases, from “simple” negligence to the most complex cases, makes our approach to motor vehicle cases unique–and better for our clients.
Recovery in personal injury lawsuit against a night club for motorcyclist who suffered a below-the-knee amputation when he was struck just outside of Boston by wrong-way driver who had become intoxicated at a Quincy, Massachusetts night club.
Post-discovery settlement for a runner who was struck by a work truck on the side of the road in Cape Cod. The runner suffered a severe ankle fracture requiring surgical repair and a lengthy rehabilitation.
Settlement reached for 45-year-old motorcyclist who suffered a below-the-knee amputation in a collision with a left-turning vehicle. While the plaintiff was able to return to work as a carpenter, the settlement reflected the life-altering nature of his injuries, and included contributions from the primary and excess insurance policies of the other driver’s employer.
Resolution at mediation on behalf of a client who sustained orthopedic injuries and required removal of his spleen as a result of a violent head-on car accident in Medford, Massachusetts. The defendant claimed that he suffered a “sudden medical emergency” that caused him to pass out just prior to the impact. That defense would have prevented any recovery under Massachusetts law. Through extensive discovery, SUGARMAN’s attorney developed evidence that called into question whether the medical event was actually “sudden” which allowed the client to successfully recover for his extensive injuries.
A Plymouth County jury sitting in New Bedford rendered a substantial verdict in favor of the estate of a pedestrian who was killed by a car that went off the road and struck him while walking his dog in Easton, MA. The plaintiff, his widow, alleged that the teenage driver that struck him lost control because he was engaged in a race or horseplay with another teenage driver. The jury found both drivers responsible for the incident in issuing their award.
Pre-trial settlement on behalf of family of a woman killed in a drunk driving accident as well as on behalf of two others who suffered serious injuries in the same crash. The drunk driver became intoxicated at a Boston bar and was attempting to drop off her passengers when she crossed a double yellow line on the Jamaicaway and struck another vehicle head on. The drunk driver’s blood alcohol level was later found to be almost three times the legal limit.
Settlement for family of pedestrian who was killed after being hit by a car. The defendant property owner failed to install barriers or guardrails in a shopping center access road, both of which would have prevented the accident and the pedestrian’s death.
Settlement obtained for the family of a 26 year-old man who was killed when a tire detached from a truck on the highway, striking the man’s windshield and causing fatal head injuries. The defendant truck driver was a student a trade school where the tire and wheel assembly had been improperly secured to the truck by the defendant truck driver and a fellow student due to the negligence and gross negligence of the school in failing to provide proper supervision and inspection of the work performed.
Wrongful death settlement after a husband and wife were struck by a car while riding on a motorcycle in the Boston-area. As a result of the collision, the husband was killed and the wife suffered serious injuries. SUGARMAN’s attorneys were able to resolve the case after lengthy discovery and before the case was set for trial.
Police officer received personal injury settlement after a motor vehicle crash with a tractor-trailer, forcing his leg to be amputated above the knee.
Pre-discovery settlement for young pedestrian struck by a car while she was in a marked crosswalk on Day Boulevard in South Boston. As a result of the impact, the woman suffered a closed head injury and thoracic outlet syndrome requiring surgical repair.
Settlement for a plaintiff who sustained a traumatic brain injury as a pedestrian. The pedestrian was holding onto the window frame of the defendant’s car when the defendant accelerated forward, causing the pedestrian to fall to the roadway, forcefully striking his head.